WIND STABILIZED HEADWEAR

Abstract

A hat with increased resistance to lift includes a crown forming a generally hemispherical portion configured to cover a head of a person. A visor extends outwardly from the crown in a generally horizontal direction and is configured to provide shade. The visor includes an aperture and a mesh material arranged in the aperture and attached to the visor at edges of the aperture. Alternately, the visor includes a visor board and N holes passing through the visor board, where N is an integer in a range from 4 to 100. The mesh material and/or the N holes equalize pressure on a bottom surface relative to a top surface of the visor by allowing air to pass from the bottom surface through the mesh material to the top surface.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/935,336, filed on Nov. 14, 2019. The entire disclosure of the application referenced above is incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates to headwear and more particularly to wind stabilized headwear.

BACKGROUND

The background description provided here is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.

Consumers wear headwear such as a baseball cap to provide relief from the sun, to provide warmth and/or as a fashion item. The use of headwear can be problematic in high wind situations such as riding a bicycle or motorcycle (without a helmet), sailing a boat or in other locations where high winds are typically encountered. As the wind flows across a visor of the headwear, differences in pressure above and below the visor may occur. In other words, higher pressure is generated below the visor while lower pressure is generated above the visor. As a result, the lift pushes the visor upward and the headwear tends to fly off.

Some riders rotate the headwear backwards to eliminate the problem caused by the visor. However, wearing the headwear backwards may not be fashionable and may also not provide relief from the sun.

SUMMARY

A hat with increased resistance to lift includes a crown forming a generally hemispherical portion configured to cover a head of a person. A visor extends outwardly from the crown in a generally horizontal direction and is configured to provide shade. The visor includes an aperture and a mesh material arranged in the aperture. The mesh material is attached to the visor at edges of the aperture.

In other features, a fastener attaches the mesh material to the visor. The fastener includes at least one fastener selected from a group consisting of a mechanical fastener, thread and adhesive. The crown is made of an elastic material and extends entirely around a circumference of the head of the person.

In other features, an adjustable band is located on an opposite side of the crown relative to the visor. The aperture and the mesh material are generally rectangular shaped and are located approximately centered in the visor from side to side.

In other features, the aperture and the mesh material are generally rectangular shaped and are located approximately centered in the visor from front to back. The mesh material is made from a material selected from a group consisting of wire, plastic, or nylon. The mesh material defines gaps in a range from 0.1 mm to 6 mm. The mesh material equalizes pressure on a bottom surface and a top surface of the visor by allowing air to pass from the bottom surface through the mesh material to the top surface.

A hat with increased resistance to lift includes a crown forming a generally hemispherical portion configured to cover a head of a person. A visor extends outwardly in a generally horizontal direction from the crown and is configured to provide shade. The visor includes a visor board and N holes passing through the visor, where N is an integer in a range from 4 to 100.

In other features, the N holes have a diameter in a range from 0.1 mm to 13 mm. The crown is made of an elastic material and extends entirely around a circumference of the head. An adjustable band is located on a rear side of the crown relative to the visor. The N holes are located approximately centered in the visor from side to side. The N holes are located approximately centered in the visor from front to back. The N holes equalize pressure on a bottom surface and a top surface of the visor by allowing air to pass from the bottom surface through the N holes to the top surface. The visor includes the visor board and material sewn to top and bottom surfaces thereof.

Further areas of applicability of the present disclosure will become apparent from the detailed description, the claims and the drawings. The detailed description and specific examples are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present disclosure will become more fully understood from the detailed description and the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a top perspective view of an example of headwear including a mesh portion arranged in the visor according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a bottom perspective view of the headwear of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a top perspective view of an example of headwear including a perforated portion in the visor according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a bottom perspective view of the headwear of FIG. 3;

In the drawings, reference numbers may be reused to identify similar and/or identical elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring now to FIGS. 1-2, an article of headwear 10 such as a baseball cap is shown for illustration. While a baseball cap is shown, the features of the headwear 10 that are disclosed in the following discussion may be applied to other types of headwear including a brim or visor.

The headwear 10 includes a crown 20 and a visor 30. The crown 20 forms a generally hemispherical covering for a head of a person wearing the headwear 10. The visor 30 extends outwardly in a generally horizontal direction from the crown 20 to shade the face and eyes of the person wearing the headwear 10.

In some examples, the crown 20 is made of an elastic material and extends entirely around a circumference of the head. This arrangement provides the appearance of a fitted baseball cap. In other examples, the headwear 10 includes an adjustable band that is located on a rear side of the headwear 10 relative to the visor 30. The adjustable band includes mating connectors (such as hook and loop fasteners, snap fasteners, etc.) or adjustable connectors (such as a band and clasp) that allow adjustment (all not shown).

In some examples, the crown 20 includes two or more panels 21 that are attached together along abutting sides 29. While the example in FIG. 1, includes six panels, additional or fewer panels can be used. The panels 21 define an exterior surface 22 and an interior surface 23. The panels 21 may include one or more apertures 34 to improve ventilation.

A flap 25 (FIG. 2) extends upwardly (along the interior surface 23) from a lower edge 26 of the crown 20. A sweatband 27, which may be formed of a knitted material with one or more directions of stretch, for example, forms a side of flap 25 that is opposite strip 24.

The visor 30 includes top and bottom cover materials 31 and 32, respectively, arranged on opposite sides of a visor board 33. The visor 30 includes an aperture 58. A mesh material 60 is arranged in the aperture 58 of the visor 30. A fastener 64 such as thread, adhesive, mechanical fasteners such as rivets, staples, etc., or another fastener attaches the mesh material 60 in the aperture 58.

In some examples, the aperture 58 and the mesh material 60 are generally rectangular shaped and are located approximately centered in the visor 30 from side to side and front to back, although other positions can be used. In some examples, the aperture 58 and the mesh material 60 have arcuate surfaces generally parallel to an arcuate surface of the crown 20 where the visor 30 attaches to the crown 20 as shown. In some examples, the aperture 58 and the mesh material 60 cover more than 50%, 60%, 70%, 80% or 90% of the crown 20. In some examples, the mesh material 60 is made of wire, plastic, nylon or other suitable mesh material. In some examples, the mesh material 60 defines gaps between strands of the mesh from 0.1 mm to 6 mm. The mesh material 60 allows air to pass freely through the visor 30 between top and bottom surfaces thereof.

In use, the user wears the headwear 10. When high winds are encountered, the mesh material 60 equalizes pressure above and below the visor 30, which reduces lift. As a result, the headwear 10 remains on the head of the user in high wind situations. The mesh material 60 also reduces sunlight on a user's face and reduces brightness (as compared to no hat or a reversed hat) while staying in position in high winds.

Referring now to FIGS. 3 and 4, the visor 30 includes a plurality of spaced holes 90 in a predetermined portion 94 thereof. When high winds are encountered, the plurality of spaced holes 90 allow airflow between top and bottom surfaces of the visor 30, which equalizes pressure above and below the visor 30 and reduces lift. In some examples, the plurality of holes include 4 to 100 holes, although additional or fewer holes can be used. In some examples, the plurality of holes have a diameter from 0.1 mm to 13 mm, although diameter holes can be used. The number and/or diameter of the holes may be selected to vary the reduction in lift at various wind speeds. Generally increasing the size and/or number of holes will reduce lift. As a result, the headwear 10 remains on the person's head in high wind situations. The plurality of spaced holes 90 also reduces sunlight on a user's face and brightness (as compared to no hat or a reversed hat) while staying in position in high wind.

The foregoing description is merely illustrative in nature and is in no way intended to limit the disclosure, its application, or uses. The broad teachings of the disclosure can be implemented in a variety of forms. Therefore, while this disclosure includes particular examples, the true scope of the disclosure should not be so limited since other modifications will become apparent upon a study of the drawings, the specification, and the following claims. It should be understood that one or more steps within a method may be executed in different order (or concurrently) without altering the principles of the present disclosure. Further, although each of the embodiments is described above as having certain features, any one or more of those features described with respect to any embodiment of the disclosure can be implemented in and/or combined with features of any of the other embodiments, even if that combination is not explicitly described. In other words, the described embodiments are not mutually exclusive, and permutations of one or more embodiments with one another remain within the scope of this disclosure.

Claims

1. A hat with increased resistance to lift comprising:

a crown forming a generally hemispherical portion configured to cover a head of a person;

a visor extending outwardly from the crown in a generally horizontal direction and configured to provide shade,

wherein the visor includes: a visor board including an aperture; and a mesh material arranged in the aperture and attached to the visor board at edges of the aperture.

2. The hat of claim 1 further comprising a fastener attaching the mesh material to the visor board.

3. The hat of claim 2, wherein the fastener includes at least one fastener selected from a group consisting of a mechanical fastener, thread and adhesive.

4. The hat of claim 1, wherein the crown is made of an elastic material and extends entirely around a circumference of the head.

5. The hat of claim 1, further comprising an adjustable band located on a rear side of the crown relative to the visor.

6. The hat of claim 1, wherein the aperture and the mesh material are generally rectangular shaped and are located approximately centered in the visor board from side to side.

7. The hat of claim 1, wherein the aperture and the mesh material are generally rectangular shaped and are located approximately centered in the visor board from front to back.

8. The hat of claim 1, wherein the mesh material is made from a material selected from a group consisting of wire, plastic, or nylon.

9. The hat of claim 1, wherein the mesh material defines gaps in a range from 0.1 mm to 6 mm.

10. The hat of claim 1, wherein the mesh material equalizes pressure on a bottom surface relative to a top surface of the visor by allowing air to pass from the bottom surface through the mesh material to the top surface.

11. A hat with increased resistance to lift comprising:

a crown forming a generally hemispherical portion configured to cover a head of a person;

a visor extending outwardly in a generally horizontal direction from the crown and configured to provide shade,

wherein the visor includes: a visor board; and N holes passing through the visor board, where N is an integer in a range from 4 to 100.

12. The hat of claim 11, wherein the N holes have a diameter from 0.1 mm to 13 mm.

13. The hat of claim 11, wherein the crown is made of an elastic material and extends entirely around a circumference of the head.

14. The hat of claim 11, further comprising an adjustable band located on a rear side of the crown relative to the visor.

15. The hat of claim 11, wherein the N holes are located approximately centered in the visor from side to side.

16. The hat of claim 15, wherein the N holes are located approximately centered in the visor from front to back.

17. The hat of claim 11, wherein the N holes equalize pressure on a bottom surface relative to a top surface of the visor by allowing air to pass from the bottom surface through the N holes to the top surface.

18. The hat of claim 11, wherein the visor includes the visor board and material sewn to top and bottom surfaces thereof.